A new UEFA Champions League campaign kicks off in September with 32 teams dreaming of lifting the trophy on May 28, 2022 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Chelsea enters the competition as the defending champion, but there are a host of teams that expect to challenge, including new powers such as PSG and Manchester City and traditional contenders such as Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Liverpool.
MORE: Which teams are in the UEFA Champions League for 2021-22?
The competition kicks off with a group stage that will whittle the field down to 16 teams which advance to the knockout rounds consisting of two-leg, home-and-home series. The club that scores the most goals over the course of the two games advances to the next round. The final is a single match played at a neutral venue.
All the big matches through to the final will be available for soccer fans in the USA. All the details follow below:
How to watch Champions League in USA
CBS and Univision platforms will carry the matches, including on each broadcaster’s streaming service:
- Dates: 29 matchdays from September 2021 to May 2022
- TV Channels: CBS, CBS Sports Network-CBSSN (select matches only)
- Spanish-language TV: Univision, TUDN, UniMas, Galavision (select matches only)
- Streaming (English): Paramount+
- Streaming (Spanish): TUDN.tv (authenticated users)
Matches that are broadcast on English- and Spanish-language TV are also streamed on fuboTV (free 7-day trial).
Champions League TV & Streaming Schedule
There are only three places remaining to be claimed in the 32-team UEFA Champions League field. The winners of the following two-leg, home-and-home playoff series will join the 29 teams that have already booked their spot in the group stage.
Heading into the final three second-leg matches on Wednesday, surprise Moldovan side Sheriff has built a sizeable advantage after its first leg, while Austrian champs RB Salzburg came from behind to win its first leg thanks to a late goal from American international Brenden Aaronson. French club AS Monaco will look to pull off the comeback on the road at Shakhtar Donetsk.
Another U.S. national team player Jordan Pefok Siebatcheu played 85 minutes in the second leg as his side BSC Young Boys followed up their opening leg win with another road triumph to advance 6-4 on aggregate. Benfica held on to its narrow one-goal, first-leg lead with a 0-0 draw in its decisive second leg against PSV Eindhoven. And Malmo FF barely survived a trip to Bulgaria, losing 2-1 but winning 3-2 on aggregate thanks to a 2-0 home win the previous week.
Champions League Playoffs (1st Legs)
| Date | Match | |
| Tues, Aug. 17 | RB Salzburg 2, Brondby 1 | Highlights |
| Tues, Aug. 17 | AS Monaco 0, Shakhtar Donetsk 1 | Highlights |
| Tues, Aug. 17 | Sheriff Tiraspol 3, Dinamo Zagreb 0 | Highlights |
| Wed, Aug. 18 | Benfica 2, PSV Eindhoven 1 | Highlights |
| Wed, Aug. 18 | Malmo FF 2, Ludogorets 0 | Highlights |
| Wed, Aug. 18 | BSC Young Boys 3, Ferencvaros 2 | Highlights |
Champions League Playoffs (2nd Legs)
| Date | Match | Time (ET) | TV channels | Stream |
| Tues, Aug. 24 | PSV Eindhoven 0, Benfica 0 | |||
| Tues, Aug. 24 | Ludogorets 2, Malmo FF 1 | |||
| Tues, Aug. 24 | Ferencvaros 2, BSC Young Boys 3 | |||
| Wed, Aug. 25 | Brondby vs. RB Salzburg | 3 p.m. | Galavision | fuboTV, Paramount+ |
| Wed, Aug. 25 | Shakhtar Donetsk vs. AS Monaco | 3 p.m. | TUDN | fuboTV, Paramount+ |
| Wed, Aug. 25 | Dinamo Zagreb vs. Sheriff Tiraspol | 3 p.m. | TUDNxtra | fuboTV, Paramount+ |
Champions League teams by country
Here are the 26 teams that clinched direct berths to the UEFA Champions League group stage by virtue of their league finish in their respective domestic competitions. In addition the first three playoff qualifiers have been added to the list (Malmo FF, BSC Young Boys and Benfica).
Spanish side Villarreal also joins the fray after winning the UEFA Europa League, which awards a UEFA Champions League berth to the winner every season. That gives Spain a tournament-high five clubs competing for the title.
| No. of Teams | Country | Qualified Teams |
| 5 | Spain | Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Villarreal |
| 4 | England | Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea |
| 4 | Germany | Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund, VfL Wolfsburg |
| 4 | Italy | Inter Milan, Atalanta, AC Milan, Juventus |
| 3 | Portugal | Sporting CP, Porto, Benfica |
| 2 | France | Lille, Paris Saint-Germain |
| 1 | Belgium | Club Brugge |
| 1 | Netherlands | Ajax |
| 1 | Russia | Zenit St. Petersburg |
| 1 | Sweden | Malmo FF |
| 1 | Switzerland | Young Boys |
| 1 | Turkey | Besiktas |
| 1 | Ukraine | Dynamo Kiev |